Trouser hanging cabinet



y l 'MWI' E. K. M|| |.s, JR 2,966,387 TRousER HANGING CABINET Filed April 7,- 1960 Dec. 27, 1960 whim, @up

up] V\ It 3g I www lNvENToR United States Patent O TROUSER HANGING CABINET Edward K. Mills, Jr., 1300 30th St. NW., Washington, D.C.

Filed Apr. 7, 1960, Ser. No. 20,699

'3 Claims. (Cl. 312-278) This invention relates to a wall-mounted cabinet, and, more particularly, to a cabinet having plural drawers provided with means for retaining and supporting one or more pairs of cutied or cutless trousers.

It has long been a male custom to utilize a chest of drawers as a temporary support or hanger for either cuied or cuiess trousers. In utilizing a chest for such a purpose, a person first partially opens a chest drawer. He then manipulates a pair of trousers until its waist portion is downwardmost and the two legs thereof extend upward a like distance in substantial parallel relation, with the front and rear creases of one leg lying against the like creases on the other leg. Next he grasps the free ends of the trousers legs and places these free ends over the top edge of the front board of the open chest drawer in such manner that the trousers hang waist down in front of the front board, with the sides of the trousers legs lying parallel with the front of this board and with the free ends hanging down behind the front board. Finally, with the trousers thus arranged, and while still holding the trousers legs over the top edge of the drawers front board with one hand, he closes the drawer, thereby Wedging the trousers legs between the drawers front board and overlying chest structure. The trousers are now suspended from the chest in inverted fashion, with the leg creases arranged in such manner that the weight of the trousers over a period of time acts to hang out small wear creases.

Several pairs of trousers may, by this method, be similarly hung in a single drawer if the drawer is wide, or if one pair of trousers is laid over another pair below; but, at any rate, practice of the custom just described requires (l) that the trousers be held by hand until they are wedgingly held in the drawer and (2) that any drawer in which trousers are so hung remain slightly opened, thus presenting an unsightly condition as long as the trousers are held thereby.

One object of my invention is to provide a cabinet with drawers having means therein designed to grip the free ends of the legs of cutfed or cuiless trousers so that there is no necessity for a person to hold the trousers when opening or closing a drawer by which such trousers are supported. This gripping means allows such a drawer to be opened and closed without fear of the trousers falling out of their hanging position.

Another 4object of my invention is to provide notch means in certain of my cabinet drawers so that the drawers, so provided, may be completely closed even when trousers are supported by them.

Another object of my invention is to provide a cabinet structure having drawer means, which drawer means form novel trouser supports as well as general storage compartments for male accessories such as shirt collars, culi links, socks, and the like.

Other objects will be apparent from the remainder of the specification and from the drawings, in which:

Fig. l is an isometric view showing the external appearance of my cabinet;

pice

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section of my cabinet taken from front to rear showing two of the cabinets drawers slightly opened, and showing, in dotted lines, portions of a pair of trousers hanging from one of the open drawers thereof;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2 and showing, in dotted lines, a leg portion of a pair of trousers supported by the lowermost drawer of my cabinet; and

Fig. 4 is a partial plan view of one of the drawers of my cabinet showing a trouser leg retaining spring bar mounted thereon.

Referring now to Figs. 1 to 4 of the drawings by reference numerals, my combined storage and trouser supporting cabinet is designated generally by 4. While I prefer to construct my cabinet lof Wood, it may be constructed from any other suitable material. More particularly, cabinet 4 includes two vertically oriented side pieces 5 and 6. Side pieces 5 and 6 are held in spaced parallel relation by means of a plurality of horizontally oriented, vertically spaced pieces, namely: top 7, intermediate pieces 8, 9 and 10; and bottom 11. Elements 7 through 11 are joined normal to side pieces 5 and 6 by means of glue, or the like. Providing a back for my cabinet is a vertically oriented back piece 12 which extends between and is jointed to the rear ends of side pieces 5 and 6, the top 7 and bottom 11 by means of glue, or the like. Back piece 12 may also be glued to the rear edges of intermediate pieces 8, 9 and 10.

To provide adidtional support for the rear ends of intermediate pieces 8, 9 and 10, and for back piece 12, I employ identical inverted U-shaped brace members 13, 14 and 15, the opposite depending legs of each of which abut and are fastened to side pieces 5 and 6, respectively, as by screws 16. Brace 13 helps to support the rear end of piece 8; brace 14 helps to support the rear end of piece 9; and brace 15 helps to support the rear end of piece 10. The front of back piece 12 may also be glue to the rear face of each of braces 13, 14 and 15.

To provide adidtional support for the front ends of` intermediate pieces 8, 9 and 10, andV to provide primary support for facing pieces 17, 18 and 19, I employ other inverted U-shaped brace members 20, 21 and 22, which are identical to brace members 13, 14 and 15, and whose opposite depending legs also abut and are fastened to side pieces-5 and 6, respectively, by means of screws 23. Brace 20 helps to support the front end of piece 8, and forms the primary support for facing piece 17 which is fastened to brace 20 by means of screws 24. Brace 21 serves to support pieces 9 and 18, and brace 22 serves to support pieces 10 and 19 in the same manner in which brace 20 supports pieces 8 and 17. Facing pieces 17, 18 and 19 are dimensioned so as to provide working space for a users hands when he is hanging trousers or when he requires access to the drawers interiors for other reasons.

The structure thus far described provides a housing for four similar drawers, designated generally at 25, 26, 27 and 28. Drawer 26, the uppermost and largest drawer, includes a vertical front piece 29, a Vertical back piece 30, two spaced, parallel, vertically oriented side pieces 31 and 32, extending normal to and joining the front piece 29 to the back piece 30 as by means of glue, or the like, and a horizontal drawer bottom 33, the top side of which is glued or otherwise fastened (see Fig. 3), to the bottom edges of side pieces 31 and 32 as at 34 and 35, respectively, and the front and rear edges of which intert and are glued into lodgements in the front piece 29 and the back piece 30, as at 36 and 37, respectively.

As will be noted from an inspection of Figs. 1 to 3, the front piece of drawer 25 is made of such a size and shape to completely close the opening formed by the front edges of elements 5, 6, 7 and 8. It will also be noted that the front piece 29 extends above the top edges of pieces 30, 31 and 32, as is usual in drawer construction. The bottom edge of front piece 29, see Fig. 2, rests on the front top side of piece 8 when the drawer 25 is fully closed, but the drawer bottom 33 is spaced above and parallel to piece `8 so as to provide space for two separated, parallel runner strips 38 and 39, which are glued or otherwise fastened to the top of piece 8. These strips 38 land 39 directly support drawer 25 as it is slid from closed to open position, and vice versa.

Referring now to Fig. 3, it will be noted that the bottom 33 is extended laterally beyond side pieces 31 and 32, so that its opposite side edges are caused to lie under the anti-tip strips 40 and 41 which are glued, or otherwise fastened, to side pieces and 6, respectively. Strips 40 and 41 prevent the front end of drawer 25 from tipping downwardly as it is pulled forward.

Each of the remaining drawers 26, 27 and 28 is cornposed of the same basic drawer-forming elements (a front piece, a back piece, two side pieces, and a bottom), fastened together in the same manner as already described relative to drawer 25. Drawers 26, 27 and 28 are also each provided with two runner strips and two anti-tip strips apiece, and these runner strips and anti-tip strips are designed to coact with drawers 26, 27 and 2S in the same way that strips 38, 39 and strips 40, 41 coact with drawer 25.

As will be noted from the drawings, drawers 25, 26, 27 and 28, although similar in construction, vary in size and shape, thus giving the over-all cabinet 4 an inverted stepped appearance. The stepped construction is desirable so that trousers supported from any one drawer will hang freely and will not interfere with trousers hanging from any of the other drawers. The variation in drawer size also functions to dictate what accessories should be stored in each drawer. Drawer 28, f/of'example, due to its size, is ideal for small jewelry items, while drawer 25, being larger, is better for storing folded dress shirts or undershirts, or the like.

Each of the drawers is provided with two drawer pulls of the type seen at 42, 43, Fig. 3, and the two pulls for each drawer are spaced apart, and fastened in the usual manner to the front piece of each drawer by means of screws (not shown). The two pulls for each drawer are made to serve a secondary function since I space them apart a set distance so that they will serve as guides between which trousers legs may be interposed as seen in Figs. 2 and 3.

Each of the drawers is also provided with a metal spring bar of the type designated generally by 44. More specifically, each spring bar includes: an apertured mounting portion 45, which is fastened by means of screws or the like to a side piece of a drawer; and an integral trouser leg retaining portion 46, which extends laterally, horizontally from the mounting portion 45 a majority of the distance across the drawer just slightly to the rear of the front piece thereof. Portion 46, as best seen in Fig. 4, is not straight, but rather this portion angles forward slightly from mounting portion 45 and then runs parallel to the front piece of the drawer. The ends of the legs of a pair of trousers hung from my cabinet would be retained between a drawers front piece and the part of portion 46 which lies parallel thereto as seen in Fig. 2 wherein 47 indicates a portion of a pair of trousers hung in the manner, just described, from drawer 26. The free end of the retaining portion of each spring bar is rounded and bent slightly rearwardly as at 48, Fig. 3, so that a user may insert trouser legs between a spring bar and the adjacent front piece with ease.

Some or all of the drawers may be provided with notches in their front pieces as at 49, Fig. 2, so that the drawers, so provided, may be fully closed even with trousers supported thereby. In the embodiment seen in the drawings, I show the two upper drawers 25 and 26 without such notches, and the two lower drawers with notches. Fig. 3 shows, in dotted lines, how a portion of a pair of trousers 50 would appear in front elevation when supported by drawers 28, with the free ends of the legs of the trousers clamped between a spring bar and the drawers front piece, other portions of the legs lying .in notch 49 and still other portions of the legs hanging down between a pair of my guide-forming drawer pulls.

In use, my cabinet would vfirst be hung from a room wall, such as 51, Fig. 2, by means orf screws or the like (not shown). The height above the floor at which the cabinet is hung is not critical, but it should be hung high enough so that trousers properly supported from drawers 28 will not touch the oor. If the cabinet is hung too high on the wall, a user will not be able to look into drawer 25 to observe items store therein.

The operation of my cabinet should be evident from the preceding description, but, for the sake of complete ness, the operation will be summarized hereinbelow.

Culed or cuflless trousers may be supported or hung from any of the drawers of my cabinet. To accomplish' such hanging, the free ends of the legs of a pair of trousers are rst placed neatly together, as is the usual custom, and the free ends, so arranged, are then placed, from front to rear, over the top edge of the front piece of one of my drawers and forced in between such drawers spring bar and front piece. Then the trousers are arranged so that they hang neatly down between the drawers pulls. if the user has chosen to hang the trousers in either of drawers 27 or 28, he may then fully close such drawer because the trousers will be lying in a notch 47 and will not interfere with the drawers closing. If the user has chosen to hang his trousers in drawers 25 or 26, he will not be able to close these drawers completely. I have purposely left the front piece of some of the drawers unnotched so that trousers may be wedgingly held in the currently conventional manner if desired, or if the spring l bars therein should become damaged or broken oif.

It should now be evident that I have provided a cornbined storage and trouser hanging cabinet, in which a plurality of items can be stored, and from which a plurality of pairs of trousers can be hung. It should also be apparent that items may be placed in or taken from a drawer of my cabinet even with trousers hanging from such drawer without disarranging or manually holding the trousers.

The invention detailed in the foregoing specification is not limited to the illustrated details, but is intended to cover all substitutions, modifications and equivalents within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

l. A combined storage and trouser hanging cabinet comprising a substantially at back, a top, a bottom, sides and a front, a vertical series of step-like portions at the cabinet ont, said portions being oiset rearwardly from the one immediately above and each having a front facing drawer opening therein, a vertical series of forwardly sliding upwardly open drawers respectively disposed in said portions, said drawers being of decreasing depth from top to bottom, the front of each drawer, in the closed position thereof, being oifset rearwardly from the one immediately above, whereby a plurality of trou sers may be engaged with the cui ends of the legs thereof in said drawers and hung freely downward Without interference with one another.

2. In the combination claimed in claim l, at least one of said drawers having a portion of the top edge of the front thereof spaced below the portion of the cabinet front which lies immediately thereabove in the closed position of the drawer, whereby to provide a gap for accommodating trouser legs, and means on the inner side of said drawer for engaging the cuff ends of said trouser legs.

3. The combination claimed in claim 1, at least some of said portions having a frontal strip aixed thereacross above the drawer opening, said strips constituting spacers whereby to facilitate manual access to the drawers when the latter are partly open.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 513,383 English Jan. 23, 1894 6 Sparks June 11, 1901 Guthrie May 9, 1933 Church Oct. 9, 1934 Lane Apr. 4, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain June 10, 1920 

